


Beneath the Skin

by penciltopbear



Category: Marvel (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penciltopbear/pseuds/penciltopbear
Summary: How do you reconcile the fact that your best friend and partner is a robotic clone of a dead Avenger? If you’re Taskmaster, then the answer is simple: you don’t. Until you can’t ignore it anymore, that is.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Beneath the Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Parker!

“This isn’t going well.”

“Yeah, no shit it ain’t going well! What tipped you off, the giant robot or the explosions?”

This was supposed to be a relatively simple job. Get in, stop the weapons shipment, get out. Easy. That is, until the weapons turned out to be very far outside of Taskmaster’s pay grade. Now he and his partner were up against some kind of mech suit that was being piloted by someone that was apparently very upset that they were there. 

They were stuck behind some shipping crates, hiding from the continuous gunfire from the mech. Taskmaster glanced around the side, but quickly pulled back. There was no way they’d be able to risk a frontal assault. 

“If you’re done complaining,” He said, turning to Black Ant. “Then shrink down and circle around back. I’ll lay down as much cover fire as I can.” 

“You make it sound so easy.” He said, shaking his head. Before he could do anything, though, the gunfire stopped. 

Taskmaster and Black Ant both peeked around the side of the crate. “Do you think they’re done shooting?” Ant asked. 

“No, it looks like they’re switching their ammo,” Taskmaster replied.

“Switching to what?”

“Dunno, but I’d rather not find out.” 

“Good point.” Black Ant shrunk out of sight as Taskmaster pulled his bow off of his back. He nocked an arrow and took aim around the corner, hitting the mech in a joint. It barely did any real damage, and there was no way he would be able to take it out like that, but he didn’t need to. He was, after all, just the distraction. 

Taskmaster ducked back behind the crate as the mech began firing again. This time, though, the bullets cut through the metal. He nearly fell to the floor as one nearly took off his head. “What the hell?” The shipping crate was being torn to pieces. He scrambled to get away, frustrated at having been caught off guard. 

“I’m in position. Are you alright back there?” Eric said over their coms. 

“I’m fine. Damn thing’s got freaking vibranium bullets,” Taskmaster replied, still dodging the spray of bullets. “Hurry up, I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna last over here.”

The shots came to another stop. Taskmaster nocked another arrow before leaving his cover. The mech looked off balance, swatting at seemingly empty air. He fired the arrow, aiming at whatever looked important and vulnerable. As the mech turned its attention back to Taskmaster, Black Ant grew behind it, towering a few feet over it. 

He grabbed it with one hand, slamming it into the ground, while he used his free hand to wrench it open. The pilot inside was now exposed. He looked panicked, and fired again at Black Ant. As Eric stumbled back, shrinking back down to his normal size, Taskmaster fired another arrow directly into the pilot’s neck. 

“Ant, are you alright?” Taskmaster said, ignoring the dying pilot’s choked cries. Eric had collapsed onto the floor, clutching his side. He didn’t reply, instead muttering a string of curses. Tony crouched next to him, surveying the damage. 

A bullet had ripped a hole straight through Eric’s side. It was a sizable hole, but he was still conscious, so it couldn’t be that bad. It was slightly off putting to not see any blood, but that wasn’t exactly unusual. At least, not for Eric. 

“What’s the damage, Doc? Am I gonna make it?” Eric’s voice had less of its usually levity, and the joke felt dry.

“You’ll be fine, I think.”

“You think? I’m gonna need a little more certainty than ‘you think.’”

“I’m not a mechanic. You’re still talking, so you’re fine.” Tony stood up. “Come on, we should get outta here.” He started to pull Eric up with him, but he immediately crashed back down. 

“What was that?” 

“I, uh. I don’t think my leg is working.” 

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means my leg isn’t working! I didn’t think that that would be hard to understand.”

“No, I get that, but why isn’t it working?”

“How the hell should I know? Bullet probably hit something important, I don’t know.” He shifted his gaze to his leg. “This has never really happened before.”

“Okay, it’s fine. Come on,” Tony held out his hand again. He hoisted Eric up, then slung his arm around his shoulder. He had to practically drag Eric behind him back to their car. The walk seemed a lot longer than it had the other way, but he hadn’t been carrying so much dead weight before. 

Neither of them said much. Tony didn’t really know what to say, especially since Eric seemed pretty caught up in his own thoughts. It wasn’t until they reached the car that he decided to speak up.

“Does it hurt?” He asked. Eric had been holding his arm over the wound for a while, but Tony couldn’t imagine that it actually did much damage. Besides the fact that he couldn’t move his leg, of course. 

Eric looked over at him. “No. It just feels kind of… weird.” He was quiet for a moment. “It feels like it should, though. Hurt, I mean.”

“Ah.” Tony said as he started the car. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eric asked sharply.

“Nothing,” He lied. He knew that whenever Eric started to act like that, when he got sort of distant, he was having another of his existential crises. Tony wasn’t sure that was the right term, but he wasn’t sure how else to put it. 

It was easy enough to ignore Eric’s… condition. It never really got brought up, especially when they were on the job. There were little things, like the fact that he never ate and rarely slept. He never really seemed to be affected by punches that would leave others unconscious. If you looked really carefully, you wouldn’t see his chest rising and falling like it should. But most people didn’t look carefully, and so most people missed the fact that Eric was a robot. 

It wasn’t a secret, necessarily. Plenty of people knew, and if someone asked neither of them would lie about it. But Eric never really seemed to like being reminded, so they never brought it up if they didn’t have to. That got harder when something like a bullet wound pulled their attention to it, and that’s when Eric would start acting weird.

Tony glanced over at his partner. He was being a lot quieter than usual, staring blankly out of the window. He regretted saying anything at all, and he knew that he should probably just keep his mouth shut. He had never been the gentle type, and he would probably make things worse.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Tony watched him for a bit as he shifted in his seat. He looked uncomfortable, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. After another minute, Tony decided to finally speak up.

“You alright?” He asked. Eric stiffened. It was barely noticeable, but reading people’s posture was part of Tony’s job. 

“I’m fine,” He replied. His voice was soft, and his arms were hugged tightly over his stomach. “I told you, it doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s not—” Tony stopped, trying to figure out what to say, but came up with nothing. He sighed. “Fine.” If Eric wasn’t going to talk, then he wouldn’t make him. 

Eric shifted his focus back out the window for a moment before finally saying anything. “Is it weird having me around? Since the real one’s dead?” 

Tony hadn’t expected Eric to say anything, much less that. It wasn’t the first time he had asked something like that, but it was the first time he had phrased it like that. He had always sort of danced around the question, like he didn’t want to ask it and he wanted an answer even less. He also didn’t usually call the original Eric the “real one.” That probably wasn’t a good sign, but Tony nevertheless gave the same answer he always did.

“‘Course not.” 

“Don’t lie to me.” His voice had gotten so quiet that Tony could barely hear him.

“I’m not lying.” Now he was starting to get worried. 

“Yes, you are.” He sounded more defensive than accusatory.

“What the hell do you want me to say?”

“Just tell me the truth!”

“I am!” Tony understood where Eric was coming from, he really did, but he was starting to get annoyed.

“You don’t have to spare my fucking feelings or whatever, I’m a big kid. I’m tired of you always acting like I’m fucking normal, but I’m not! So would you please just tell me the truth!”

“Okay, fine! It’s weird. It’s weird that you’re a clone of my best friend and you’re here and he’s dead. It feels wrong that I hang out with you, like it’s doing a disservice to his memory or some shit. Is that what you want to hear?”

Eric didn’t respond. He just stared at Tony for a minute, then leaned back against his seat and faced forward. 

“Eric, I didn’t—”

“No, it’s fine. You’re right.”

Tony pulled over and turned to Eric. “No, I’m not. You’re my friend, and I didn’t mean to say any of that.”

“Yeah, but you did.”

“Because you kept yelling at me!”

“You were right! I’m not him, and I’m never going to be. I’m never even going to get close, no matter how hard I try, because I’m not him. I’m just a cheap fucking copy.”

“You’re just as much him as he was, Eric. Hell, you’re better. I like having you around, I like having a partner. Who cares if you’re not an Avenger? You’re still my best pal, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Eric sighed. “I’m just tired of being jealous of a dead guy.” He paused for a second, then turned to Tony. “Does it really feel wrong? To be around me?”

“Sometimes, I guess. I usually just ignore it. It doesn’t really matter, it’s not like he’s gonna get offended. Wait, that came out wrong. What I mean is, I like having you as my partner. I’m not gonna get guilty over that.”

“No, I get it.” 

Tony felt awkward, to say the least. He had never really fucked up this badly, especially not with Eric, and he felt like he was doing a bad job patching things up. He didn’t really know what to do next, so he put his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re a good partner, and a good friend. I shouldn’t have said that stuff.”

“It’s cool. I like having you around, too.” Tony could tell he was smiling, even with his mask on. “But could you get your hand off my shoulder? It feels like you’re my little league coach or something.”

He pulled his hand back. “Sorry.”

“You’re good. Can we get going, though? I’ve still got a bullet hole in my side.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah.” Tony started the car again. As he pulled back onto the road, he looked over at Eric one last time. He seemed more relaxed, at least a little. It was a start.

“You’re a good partner, too.” Eric said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re an asshole, but yeah.”

“Thanks, pal.”

“Anytime.”


End file.
